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3 Football Legends Who Won The FIFA World Cup As A Player And As A Manager

3 Football Legends Who Won The FIFA World Cup As A Player And As A Manager

Mario Zagallo of Brazil was the first ever person to win the FIFA World Cup both as a player and as a manager

The FIFA World Cup is considered the most prestigious association football tournament in the world. Just making an appearances at the competition is the dream of every player and winning the World Cup — whether as a player or as a manager — is an outstanding achievement.

The 21 World Cup tournaments held so far have been won by 8 national teams. Brazil have won it 5 times, followed by Germany and Italy with 4 titles each; Argentina, France, and Uruguay, with 2 titles each; and England and Spain, with one title each.

20 different managers have won the World Cup, and all winning managers led their own country’s national team.

The first manager to win the global mundial was Alberto Suppici, who led the Uruguay to victory in the inaugural tournament in 1930.

Vittorio Pozzo is the only person who has won the World Cup twice as a manager — doing so in 1934 and 1938 with Italy.

Suppici is the youngest manager to win the World Cup, being 31 in 1930.

Mario Zagallo (Brazil) and César Luis Menotti (Argentina) were also in their 30s when they won the World Cup. Zagallo was 38 years old in 1970 and Menotti was 39 years old in 1978.

Vicente del Bosque is the oldest coach to win the World Cup, aged 59 when Spain won it in 2010.

In this post, FootballOrbit looks at the individuals who have who won the FIFA World Cup both as a player and as a manager.

Mario Zagallo (Brazil)

Mario Zagallo

Born in 1931, Mario Zagallo played as a forward for clubs in his native Brazil and for the Brazilian national team.

After his retirement, he coached Botafogo, Fluminense, Flamengo, Vasco de Gama, Bangu, Portuguesa, Al-Hilal and the national teams of Brazil, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Mario Zagallo holds the record for the most World Cup titles won in general, with four titles in total.

He was the first ever person to win the FIFA World Cup both as a player and as a manager — winning the competition twice (in 1958 and 1962) as a player and in 1970 as manager.

He also won it in 1994 as an assistant manager.

Zagallo also coached Brazil in 1974 (finishing 4th) and in 1998 (finishing as runners-up) and was a technical assistant in 2006.

In 1992, he received the FIFA Order of Merit — the highest honour awarded by FIFA — for his contributions to football.

Mario Zagallo was named the 9th Greatest Manager of All Time by World Soccer Magazine in 2013.

Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)

Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer was a German former professional footballer and manager.

In his playing days, he was nicknamed Der Kaiser (“The Emperor”) because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the field. Moreso, his first name “Franz” is reminiscent of the Austrian emperors.

He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

Beckenbauer was a versatile player who started out as a midfielder but was most famous as a central defender. He is often credited as having invented the role of the modern sweeper (libero).

He was the second person ever to win the World Cup as a player and as a manager. He lifted the World Cup trophy as captain in 1974 and repeated the feat as a manager in 1990.

He was also the first captain to lift the World Cup and European Championship at international level and the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) at club level.

Beckenbauer was named in the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, the Ballon d’Or Dream Team in 2020 and in 2004 was listed in the FIFA 100 of the world’s greatest living players.

At club level with Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1967 and three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976 — the first player to win three European Cups as captain of his club.

Franz Beckenbauer won the Ballon d’or in 1972 and 1976.

Didier Deschamps (France)

Didier Deschamps was a former player and now a coach. He has been manager of the French national team since 2012.

During his playing career, he played as a defensive midfielder for Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia.

Deschamps is the third individual to win the FIFA World Cup as a player and as a manager. As a player, he captained France to victory on home soil in 1998 and twenty years later (2018), he coached them to another triumph in Russia.

After Franz Beckenbauer, he became only the second captain in the history of football to have lifted the Champions League trophy, the World Cup trophy, and the European Championship trophy.

Iker Casillas of Real Madrid and Spain also did the same as a captain later.

In addition to winning two Ligue 1 titles in 1990 and 1992, Deschamps was part of the Marseille squad that became the first — and so far only — French club to win the UEFA Champions League in 1993.

With the Champions League victory, Deschamps became the youngest captain ever to lead his team to win the title.

At Juventus, he played three Champions League finals in a row between 1996 and 1998 — winning it in 1996.

With the Turin side, he also won the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, as well as three Serie A titles, among other trophies.

With Chelsea, he won the FA Cup and also reached another Champions League final with Valencia in 2001 — before retiring later that season.

As a manager, Deschamps began his career with Monaco and helped the club win the Coupe de la Ligue in 2003, and reached the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final.

He was named Ligue 1 Manager of the Year in 2004.

In 2006/07, Deschamps helped his former club, Juventus, win the Serie B title and return to Serie A following their relegation due to their involvement in the 2006 Calciopoli Scandal the previous season.

He subsequently managed another one of his former clubs, Marseille, where he won the Ligue 1 title in 2009/10.

He also won three consecutive Coupe de la Ligue titles between 2010 and 2012, and consecutive Trophée des Champions titles in 2010 and 2011.

On the 8th of July 2012, Deschamps was named as the new manager of the French national team.

He led France to the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the final of UEFA Euro 2016 and ultimately won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Didier Deschamps was named as FIFA Best Football Coach of the Year in 2018.

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